It’s largely been met with a collective shrug as Fleetwood licked his wounds from his latest disappointment and the golf world began questioning whether he was getting closer or further from that elusive win No. 1.
But after 18 holes of the BMW Championship, it seems Fleetwood is ready to do it all over again, hoping the end result will be different. There’s a long way left to go, but Fleetwood showed his resolve over his opening round at Caves Valley, shooting 5-under 65 to put himself in contention once again. He admitted he was disappointed in the aftermath of his FedEx St. Jude Championship loss, but Thursday was an affirmation that he’s not defeated. He sits in solo second, trailing Robert MacIntyre by three shots.
“I said it at Travelers, said it last week, best possible scenario for me is I get myself back into contention and I give myself a chance again,” Fleetwood said Thursday. “I’ll keep learning, keep trying to put myself up there. That’s all I want to do, really. Today was a great start to that, but it’s only one round.”
Tommy Fleetwood makes birdie on No. 12 at BMW Championship
The 34-year-old Englishman has made 161 PGA TOUR starts without a win. He has six runner-up finishes, six third-place finishes, 29 top-fives and 42 top-10s. He has eight wins worldwide, but none on American soil. Those 29 top fives are the most by any active player without a win.
It would have been natural for Fleetwood to carry a hangover into this week. After his close call at the Travelers, Fleetwood took three weeks off and still struggled in his return. His first round at Caves Valley came just four days after the win in Memphis slipped through his fingers.
What can’t be argued, and what’s been lost in the deafening discourse surrounding Fleetwood’s search for his first TOUR win, is the underlying context that Fleetwood is playing more consistently than at any point in his career. The Englishman is third in scoring average on TOUR, behind only Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. He ranks third in Strokes Gained: Total and ninth in SG: Approach, both career bests. He’s finished in the top-25 in over 75 percent of his starts.
He displayed that consistency, going bogey-free on Thursday at Caves Valley, one of only two all day. He grabbed his first birdie at the par-3 third, sticking his tee shot inside 4 feet. He added another at the par-4 seventh after another flagged approach. He made back-to-back birdies at the 11th and 12th coming out of a two-hour rain delay, then poured in a bonus birdie on the 18th, sinking a 34-footer to close his round.
“But I just want to keep trying my hardest and playing good golf,” Fleetwood said. “I’ve been a pro for — I don’t know how long. I’m not going to do the math. But I’ve had my fair share of playing rubbish. I’ve spent weeks playing terrible. So playing well and being in contention is a privilege. You’ve got to enjoy those times. So while I’m playing well, I’m kind of enjoying it as well.”
Taylor Swift Unveils Glamorous New Album ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ Featuring Sabrina Carpenter, Max Martin Collab, and Exclusive Vinyl—Out This October
Taylor Swift has revealed her new album “The Life of a Showgirl” will be released on October 3, and unveiled the cover art and a tracklist that features Sabrina Carpenter on the title song.
Swift made the big reveal on her social media and during the Wednesday episode of the “New Heights Show” podcast, co-hosted by her Super Bowl Champion beau, Travis Kelce, and his brother Jason. Her website is offering variants including “The Life of a Showgirl: Sweat and Vanilla Perfume” in glitter orange vinyl, deluxe CD and cassette. While the podcast aired, she debuted the deluxe album covers on her site.
In a post on Instagram, she confirmed that she produced the album with Max Martin and Shellback. “And, baby, that’s show business for you. New album The Life of a Showgirl. Out October 3,” she wrote.
On the podcast, she said that “The Life of a Showgirl” was inspired by the joy that being on the Eras Tour brought her. “This album is about what was going on behind the scenes of my inner life during this tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant,” she said. “It just comes from the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life, and so that effervesence has come through on this record. And like you said, bangers.
She also confirmed that the 12 songs on the tracklist will be it for this era — in other words, “there’s no other songs coming.”
“With ‘Tortured Poets Department,’ I was like here’s a data dump of everything I thought, felt, experienced in two or three years. Here’s 31 songs. This is 12,” she said. “There’s not a thirteenth, there’s not other ones coming. This is the record I’ve been wanting to make for a very long time. I also wanted it to be every single song is on this album for hundreds of reasons, and you couldn’t take one out and it be the same album, you couldn’t add one and be… It’s just right.
“That focus and that kind of discipline with creating an album and keeping the bar really high is something I’ve been wanting to do for a very long time,” she continued. “I tend to write lots and lots of music, so it’s a temptation to release lots of music. But oftentimes, I wanted to do an album that was so focused on quality and on the theme and everything fitting together like a perfect puzzle that these 12 songs for my 12th album, I feel like we achieved that and I’m really happy about that.”
Leading up to the release of the podcast, fans noticed a countdown on her official website that was counting down to 7 p.m. ET. Her landing page featured an image of a door that was featured during the Eras Tour, and as the hours ticked by, four different boxes gradually appeared in different colors and with locks on them. Some fans surmised that each box could represent a different-colored vinyl variant.
The 14-time Grammy winner announced “The Life of a Showgirl” early Tuesday, after a mysterious countdown clock appeared on her website. Fans speculated that her 12th album was in the works, given that the clock was set to run out on the 12th day of the month at 12:12 a.m. ET. The project was then revealed in a sneak peek clip from her “New Heights Show” appearance shared on social media.
Spotify billboards began popping up around the country following the album reveal, sharing a code to a playlist entitled “And, baby, that’s show business for you.” The playlist, comprised of 22 Swift songs, likely contains clues and Easter Eggs about what to expect from “The Life of a Showgirl.” Some Swifties already pointed out that all the songs on the playlist were produced by Max Martin and Shellback, which suggested their return for the new album.
Check out the tracklist for “The Life of a Showgirl” below:
The Fate of Ophelia
Elizabeth Taylor
Opalite
Father Figure
Eldest Daughter
Ruin the Friendship
Actually Romantic
Wi$h Li$t
Wood
Cancelled!
Honey
The Life of a Showgirl featuring Sabrina Carpenter
